After as many as 14 meetings, Henrik Sass Larsen (Socialdemokraterne), the business and growth minister, is close to reaching an agreement with opposition parties Venstre, Konservative on a new ‘bank package’ – a raft of new regulations covering the country’s biggest banks and designed to prevent another financial crisis. Only minor points need to be worked out before the package can be presented to parliament for approval, according to TV2 News.
With the major parties already on board, approval of the bank deal is pretty much a formality and should happen before the end of the week.
“It looks good,” Hans Skibby, a Dansk Folkeparti spokesperson, told Politiken newspaper. “We need to get approval from our rank and file, so we haven’t signed off on it just yet.”
Liberal Alliance (LA), another opposition party, is also pleased with the outcome of Sass's negotiations.
“He has done well during these negotiations,” LA spokesperson Joachim Olsen told Politiken. “I have no doubt that an agreement will be reached.”
Tighter, but not too tight, regulations
The nation’s major banks –DRL, Danske Bank, Nordea Danmark, Jyske Bank, BRF, Sydbank and Nykredit – are covered by the agreement, and Danske Bank in particular – the country’s largest – will be regulated more tightly than in the past, but not as tightly as the government had wanted.
The new rules would also establish a special board for financial watchdog group Finanstilsynet to oversee the credit sector.
Banking customers are unlikely to be significantly affected by the proposal.
“It is not going to change lending policies very much,” Michael Miller, a finance professor at Copenhagen Business School, told Berlingske newspaper. “It looks like the deal is very close to market expectations and the major banks are already meeting those requirements.
